Bird Photographer of the Year’s 2019 young winners

Mallards, Hungary. Photographer: Tamás Koncz-Bisztricz, Hungary.

Photographer's Story: “It’s late winter, and Hungary’s soda lakes are full of life, both above and below the surface of the water. These lakes are a sanctuary for a wide variety of waterbirds including Eurasian Teal, Eurasian Spoonbill, Great Egret, Greylag Goose, Greater White-fronted Goose, Common Black-headed Gull, Mediterranean Gull, Eurasian Coot, Grey Heron, and other birds. There is a nice, but unknown hidden lake between the village of Tömörkény and Pálmonostora. It is surrounded by reeds and sedges and therefore it is impossible to observe and photo the diverse life it harbors without causing disturbance. I took this aerial photograph by a remotely controlled drone, which causes almost no disturbance when used properly: the shape, color and sound of this machine do not correspond to any predator. I used a special technique to slowly approach the birds from very high altitude, the same method used by conservation experts to count the population of the birds for scientific purposes. Here we can see wild Mallards stirring up the muddy water and leaving lines in the water, colored yellowish-brownish by organic materials. Sometimes you can see a purple tinge to the water, the result of organic matter released from decomposing reeds. The sparkling color pallet of the image in the photograph is also influenced by the blue sky and the reflection of white clouds on the water surface.”

DJI drone with inbuilt DJI FC300C camera. Focal length 3.61mm (20mm equivalent); 1/100 second; f/2.8; ISO 118.